Half a croissant, on a plate, with a sign in front of it saying '50c'
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Watch for Crashing Cars

A sign, put up by law, to keep car crashes from happening over and over again.
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Lightning never strikes the same place twice. Well... this dosen't concern lightning.

I had a most interesting series of encounters on my way to work today. Upon going, I saw the remnants of a car wreck. Snow had covered the ground overnight, and perhaps a few people were victim to an icy intersection. I gawked and let the shards of cars and worried faces perk my morning drive. I turned the music down and drove a little slower the rest of the way.

On my way home, crossing the same intersection, I say another assemblage of misshapened automobiles! "What luck!" I thought to myself. This time I sped through the havoc; I had seen enough.

Were these people really so ignorant of the hazardous conditions? Perhaps. But, what if there are other factors at play? What if that intersection, on that day, was just a place for cars to crash? These factors could range from an unseen pothole in the road to full out synchronicity working against the unbalanced emotions from too many candies and roses the night before...

Here I sit with a humble idea, and I wonder what you think. Maybe the police should put up signs at certain spots in the road where an accident has happened. These signs would indicate a particularly hazardous area, as proven by the onset of at least one car wreck. The signs would come down 24hrs after the last wreck in said area. Would it do any good?

daseva, Feb 16 2007

with thanks to [Dub] & devilducky http://www.devilducky.com/media/57870/
[po, Feb 16 2007]

accident black spots http://www.ambrand....06/09/blackspot.jpg
do you see black spots in front of your eyes Mr Molehusband? [xenzag, Feb 16 2007]

Why Die signs http://images.googl...safe%3Doff%26sa%3DG
In South Dakota [bungston, Feb 16 2007]

[link]






       It seems like a lot of work to put up signs, only to take them down (most often) 24 hours later.   

       Historically hazardous areas of road are normally signposted as such. Here, we have signs that say HIGH ACCIDENT AREA.
Texticle, Feb 16 2007
  

       Do you actully read *all* (or any) of the signs you already pass every day?
nuclear hobo, Feb 16 2007
  

       Yeah, [texticle], those signs you speak of are right in line, but what if there is a more transient problem at hand?   

       [hobo], no. I don't "read" STOP. It's more like I sense it.
daseva, Feb 16 2007
  

       Perhaps someone is wreaking his revenge?
It's enough to make a nervous wreck out of anyone.
Ling, Feb 16 2007
  

       Thanks, [ling]. All wreaks have been wrecked. See, someone exchanged the a and c on my keyboard and.... aww, shucks, I can't spell.
daseva, Feb 16 2007
  

       Heh
Ling, Feb 16 2007
  

       lightning actually will strike the same place twice. Several times in fact.
Antegrity, Feb 16 2007
  

       Or, in lieu of publicly sponsored signage, you could do as we do in Los Angeles with our ever-growing Latino population and just erect small temporary shrines with a few flowers, a photo of the lost loved ones, the occasional candle, and a Virgin Mary statuette at the roadside of each accident.
jurist, Feb 16 2007
  

       Whilst at first glance, I agreed with [Texticle]'s comments about this idea, the question it poses, //what if there are other factors at play?// intrigues me. There's something that appeals to me about the idea of subtle psychogeographical, social and temporal factors converging in complex ways, swirling and settling on a particular corner where, just today, people will feel slightly distracted, shaking their head as they try to clear that sense of strangeness from their minds... while sadly in this case it leads to some becoming distracted at the wrong moment and skidding off the road, the concept of eddies and ripples of weirdness flowing around us like that is kinda neat.
imaginality, Feb 16 2007
  

       I wish I could have written about this facet as well as you, [imaginality]. Yes, this is what I want to fight against: ripples of wierdness.   

       [po], great link! Do they have stoplights in Russia? Perhaps communist ideals still exist in the russian driver: "let us all go together, at once!" crash.
daseva, Feb 16 2007
  

       [imaginality] I think it's more likely that the sun is glary at a certain time of the morning on a particular curve in the road. Sorry.   

       I think crash locations should be built into a huge online database and your car beeps to warn you when you are entering a high crash area.
phundug, Feb 16 2007
  

       We have those signs. They say "Welcome to Atlanta."
Galbinus_Caeli, Feb 16 2007
  

       South Dakota posts "Why Die" signs. They are eyecatchers for sure. Linked is a phot of a double death. There are certain very hazardous curves in back roads that have ten or more of these signs - each sign represents a death, not an accident. I could not find an image of one of these clusters.
bungston, Feb 16 2007
  
      
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